Audience 2011

Nelson Shanks made this painting, Audience, with oils, and it feels like he built it up slowly, layering glazes over glazes to get that glowing, almost dreamlike effect. I imagine Shanks, in his studio, carefully arranging the objects around the model – the masks, the skulls, the bottles – each one a prop in his theater of the self. The brushwork is smooth, almost invisible in places, but then you see these little flicks of paint that catch the light just so. The color palette is warm, with those yellows and reds, but then there's this cool, almost turquoise background that adds a touch of mystery. It’s like he's inviting us to consider how we perform for ourselves and others. You look at this, and you can see echoes of the old masters, like Rembrandt or Caravaggio, but with a contemporary twist. It's like Shanks is saying, "Hey, we're all just playing roles here, so let's make it interesting." And that, to me, is what painting is all about – it’s an invitation to see the world in a new light, to question our assumptions, and to embrace the ambiguity of it all.